1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet feeder provided in an apparatus such as a printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
An apparatus configured so that paper feeding is performed in such a manner that sheets of recording paper P being stacked are conveyed toward an inclined surface that is inclined to a surface of the recording paper and extracted (separated) one by one by friction between an end portion of each sheet of recording paper and the inclined surface and between the end portion of each sheet of recording paper and a protrusion member protruded from the inclined surface has been heretofore used as a sheet feeder for providing in an apparatus such as a printer.
Configuration in which a member having a friction coefficient higher than that of a member constituting the inclined surface (inclined separation surface) is used as the protrusion member (separation member) in this configuration so that the protrusion member supported by a plate spring (elastic supporting member) made of metal is protruded from the inclined surface has been proposed recently (see JP-A-2003-292183).
According to such configuration, because the plate spring made of metal is little affected by the environmental change (temperature change and humidity change) in use of the sheet feeder, there can be obtained an advantage that sheets of recording paper can be extracted stably regardless of the environment in use.